I have a 03, shifting gears was a joke, sometimes felt like have push against the dash. I dont really drive the truck that much, drive the beater commter car more, gets 50mpg. Then I got playing with the smarty, of coarse clutch didnt like that. So time for clutch, got if from Harry @ Peak diesel. Went with sbc ofe, the 450hp. I cant believe how great the trans shifts now, stock clutch looked okay as I threw in onto the floor. Didnt bother updating hyds as the nv5600 dont need them. Truck is pleasure to drive again. It has 130,000kms on the truck, changed oil in trans couple times, thinking that might help. My clutch was bad in this case. Glad I turned up the smarty to slip it.

 

I am wondering/hoping that's just my problem. I just don't know much about trannies. But a lot of my problems seem like it might be the clutch?

I think i'm just going to go to the dealer and test drive a truck. Maybe with any luck I can get a NV5600 to compare it to mine. That way I can see how it shifts compared to mine. I did test drive another NV5600 back when I bought mine, I don't rememeber it well, but I though it shifted nice. And I mean, I do remember my truck shifting nicely when I got it....

I'm pretty close to your mileage, just about to hit 128,000km. How much did the clutch set you back?

 

Sorry to abit to get back to you, was in Chicago. Got clutch kit from Harry @ Peak diesel in Langley BC. It cost $780, I think, it was a month ago. Old man works for trucking company, so got a deal on shipping. They make couple of different hp levels. I spoke with South Bend/Peak before I brought it. I went with the con ofe, which is 450hp, but will take more, they got rid of the con fe 550hp. Harry told me is was being dropped as it has to be driven very hard. They were having issues with it not seating it, then having to replace it. They also have dual disks, but I wont see that much power.

 

Also I phoned most of the diesel shops in AB. They were all over the $1200 price tag. There was likely some shops that I missed.

 

i notice you have 37's ,I have the same setup[haven't updatemysig] the clunk
is your driveshaft,as soon as i lifted mine i started getting a clunk.
i just had the driveshaft replaced at the dealer for a vib issue and the clunk
is gone. what i whould try is pulling the shaft and packing grease in the splines on the driveshaft yoke side going into the tcase,thats what i told the tech to do when they replaced mine. I'm pretty sure it's caused by axle rap.

 

Yes. Do the following to test the "reserve":

1. Place the shift lever in neutral.
2. Fully apply the clutch pedal. (As far as you can push it.)
3. Move the shift lever to the 1-2 gate and just start to move it in the gate for 1st gear so the syncros are just starting to engage.
4. Slowly start to release the clutch, very, very slowly. You are tying to find the engagement point.
5. The lever should not be in gear, but you can start to feel vibration from the gears or very, very, very light slow grind. (if it's loud like you missed a normal shift, you're apply the clutch shift lever too far in the gate).
6. At the point you just start to feel or hear the gearset take off when releasing the clutch, the clutch pedal should be about an inch off the floor. (Granted it's hard to measure, but just actuate the clutch pedal a few times before doing the exercise to get an idea on what an inch is. You'll get a feel for it.)

Now do the exercise I outlined above. If the pedal to the floor distance is less than an inch, the clutch hydraulics are bad. They have air in them or are leaking. If the pedal load when you apply the clutch is heavier at the end of the clutch pedal stroke, then the clutch is bad.

 

I would definitely look at the hydraulics. Air in system or bad cylinder.
Buy it as a complete assembly, already purged.

The drain transmission and fill with Synchromesh oil only, overfill by 1 quart or 1.5 quarts.

 

I will give that a try. I changed the oil just over a year ago, not even 10k miles on it, I used Amsoil syncromesh 5-30.

I am pretty sure the 1st-2nd clunk is completely gone after I did my axle u-joints, haven't driven it to much, but hasen't done it once since. Something is wrong though. The truck is starting to grind gears a bit, 3rd and 4th mostly. But the couple days I was driving it and shifting without the clutch, it shifts perfect. I am pulling the front driveshaft today because I think a u-joint is bad, so I will know if I got any issues because of it.

 

Not sure if i'm doing it right, but there was absolutely nothing for atleast 4 inches, the clutch engages VERY VERY high. I tried it in a few different places and slowly let up the clutch, in the one way closer to being in 1st it was engaging and the truck moved a bit, if it was out to far just acted like it was in nuetral and did nothing.

As far as the driveshaft, I pulled off my front shaft today, it seems fine, and make no change to any noises at all

 

Exact same issue with mine...and I bought the truck new. I once got it stuck in the driveway getting ready to take my boat down for it's first sea trial after a five year rebuild. It would not go in gear at all, and I was thinking I was going to have to tow it to the shop. I got ****** and forced it into gear and then it shifted really well for a while....in fact no sticking at stoplights anymore...and that was last May. It did stick again last week once at a stoplight though. Have 41000 on the truck now.

 

I recall having these problems before putting my OFE in. Seeing the clutch when it was pulled out answered alot for me. It had been wore down to the rivets for sometime. Truck was bought used @ 20k miles, and with other noticed things on the truck like broken back glass, creases on the back window panels, and dent in the tailgate, I pretty much concluded that the person who had the truck before me must have embarrassed himself with a fifth wheel. Probably was pretty hard on the truck.

But with the OFE I have no grind issues unless I shift clutchless, which I do on occasion. The only clunk I get is shifting back to 1st while rolling to a stop.

 

Yea i'm hoping/thinking it's just the clutch. The truck has 80k miles on it, and I haven't been all that easy on the clutch. By the condition of the rest of the truck when I bought it, they were pretty easy on the truck i'm sure, but still a decent amount of mileage. It is early, but a programmer has to kill them quick.

 

Yea I forgot to mention Mocho that i had 80k on my truck at the time the clutch was replaced.

To this day I have a takeoff shudder (since day one) but I've grown used to it. It holds great and shifts great. Of course you start running into the nv5600s slow shifting nature when you begin to push it to shift faster. I've found that being as smooth as possible in the shift helps instead of jamming it. I know ppl who jam gears naturally, the nv is picky about that. Lots of ppl embarrass themselves in my truck when they can't get into gear right. I feel sorry for anyone who tries to steal it lol knock on wood.

I have 122k on the truck now, it shifts great now that I have bonded with it. Absolutely love the truck. I think if you take a little more time to familiarize yourself with the trucks habits you'll find out alot.

 

My truck shifts like crap also, and like yours shifts better under load, I've hasd 4 different clutches in my truck, they all shift the same.

Stock ( was nice for the first 10k ) then went to crap
3600 solid dual disk ( best clutch out of all of them ) but shifted like crap
FE ( very grabby worst of all of them) shifted like crap
3250 spring center Dual disk ( nice clutch a little grabby very quiet ) shifts like crap.

Rick

 

ever figure out your problem?

if not check fluid level in your clutch. if its low, you've got a leaking master/slave cylinder.

I noticed mine grinding into gears one day. then i couldnt get it into reverse at all. pumped the clutch and it stiffened up. checked the fkuid and found it to be low.

These are sealed units and cant be fixed without replacing the whole thing. I havnt had the problem in a few months now. crawled under the dash this weekend when installing my gauges and noticed fluid on the firewall around the master cylinder. found my leak

anyways, check that. its pretty easy to replace. and i think its only a few hundred bucks.
good luck